2016 Is the Year of the Celebrity Fashion Designer—At Least According to Google

Last year, the fashion set got a real treat when press-shy Belgian designer Raf Simons was named Google’s most trending designer of 2015. (To translate, most trending means had the highest increase in numbers of searches year over year.) It seemed like a small victory for the fashion purists out there, proof that hard work and creative evolution could come out on top of social media prowess and celebrity oversharing. This year, the pendulum has swung far—very far—in the opposite direction.

This morning, Google released its list of most trending searches of 2016. The fashion designer category, in full below, was dominated by pop culture celebrities. The top spot went to Rachel Roy, who is very much a designer in her own right but likely saw a rise in searches not because of her cargo pants or cut-out dresses, but because she was at the center of a media firestorm that speculated she was the “Becky with the good hair” called out in Beyoncé’s song “Sorry.” Other names on the list are Angela Simmons, the daughter of Rev Run and a reality star with her own shoe collection, who placed third; Zendaya (fourth); Kendall and Kylie Jenner (fifth); Beyoncé (sixth); Ivanka Trump (ninth); and Kanye West (10th). Chances are most of the increased searches around these stars were only in part based on their fashion pursuits.

Of Google’s top 10, only four on the list hosted fashion shows in 2016. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who landed the number two spot, notably oversee The Row, which presents at Fashion Week. Kanye West staged two Yeezy extravaganzas in 2016. (The Olsens and West are also veritable celebrities.) Sonia Rykiel, who passed away in August, is number eight on the list—her brand puts on a couple of shows throughout the year; the collection is designed by artistic director Julie de Libran. Anita Dongre, an Indian fashion designer, ranked seventh.

If this paints a celebrity-obsessed picture of the fashion world, Google’s most trending list of fashion “questions asked” does just the opposite. According to data, “How to cut sleeves off a shirt?” was the most trending fashion question search of the year. That doesn’t really reflect runway trends either, with sleeves only getting longer by the season. Look further down the list, however, and you’ll come across one topic the Vogue Runway team is particularly interested in: “What did people wear in the ’90s?” To that, we direct Googlers to our encompassing archival runway slideshows of Helmut Lang, Miuccia Prada, and Calvin Klein from the ’90s and our many think pieces on the designers, models, and trends that dominated the era.

Fashion Questions1. How to cut sleeves off a shirt?2. How do I start modeling?3. What is haute couture?4. How to wear booties with skinny jeans?5. When can you start wearing white?6. How to become a fitness model?7. What is boho?8. What did people wear in the ’90s?9. How to dress like a hippie?10. How to become a fashion designer?